Girls Club/Boys Club Day

Today it was my turn to host the girls at our house and my Lambs went to another house with all the boys. I made sugar cookie dough last night and today we made cut out heart cookies. We made frosting and they insisted on coloring some pink and some purple. They decorated the cookies with frosting and sprinkles. It took a long time to make, bake, and decorate the cookies. I couldn't get over their conversation while they were working. I heard comments that my boys would never make. "Your cookie is so pretty. Will you show me how to make one like that? Would you mind if I copied your idea?" The only "fighting" was everyone wanted a turn to cut out cookies at once. I would roll out the dough and all 4 girls would crowd around and cut out as many cookies as possible from that batch before there was no space to cut out any more. They didn't believe me that everyone could have some time to cut out cookies. After a couple of pans I called them over individually to cut out cookies while the others decorated cookies.

Then they gave themselves "recess" and ran around my backyard for a little while. I apologized for not having a trampoline or swing set. They didn't seem to mind, just wanted to be outside after making cookies. I have no idea what my neighbors thought of girls running around my backyard without my boys home.

Next I had a small craft ready for them. I did this when I was teaching and found I had plenty of leftovers already cut out and ready for them to make. It was a heart with a clothespin with a magnet on the back to hang papers on the refrigerator.

Then I gave them lots of art supplies-construction paper (pink and purple), markers, stampers, fancy cutting scissors, stickers, etc. and let them make homemade Valentine cards. All 4 girls were very creative and I couldn't get over how much they wrote in their cards. My boys write "Happy Valentine's Day! Love, Lamb 1" and are done. The girls wrote whole paragraphs and covered every space on their hearts. I left them in our schoolroom to be creative and tackled some of the cookie mess dishes while they worked.

They had all eaten way too many cookies as they decorated them so our snack time was light. Bagels with peanut butter, oranges, and a few scones for dessert. I pulled the scones from the freezer.

I asked them what they wanted to do next time they come to my house. They all answered something without so much sugar next time. Some suggested cooking or baking something not so sugary, some suggested more craft time, and some suggested more game time like last time when we played board games. I'm not sure what we will do, but I have several months to figure it out.

I enjoyed the day and the change of routine for a few hours. I enjoyed having girls in my kitchen. I enjoyed seeing pink and purple cookies. I enjoyed leaving them to be creative in the schoolroom. I loved hearing kind comments to one another. I enjoyed the afternoon without so much competition as our house usually has.

The mom that had the boys said the boys play with more focus on Boys Club Day. She loves having the boys because she only has one boy of her own. This is a win for all three families involved in Girls Club and Boys Club. I'm so glad we came up with this plan and have a fun afternoon once a month.

Pizza

After FRED the other night I asked Ram to pick up a pizza from Pizza Ranch. I didn't expect the provided meal to be enough for the Lambs and definitely not enough for Ram. The last few times we have had pizza I'm always surprised that a large is not enough to feed our family of 5 with 3 hungry BOYS. It was ok because they had already had supper at FRED. I don't know how people eat out and afford to feed their family like that all the time. We actually rarely get take out like that because Subway, Dairy Queen, and Pizza Ranch are the only choices and they are 7 miles away. After we finished the large pizza, Lamb 2 asked if we could make homemade pizza. Lamb 1 replied that we didn't want to have pizza two nights in a row. Ram replied that homemade pizza tasted a lot different and a lot better than Pizza Ranch pizza. So last night we made pizza.

Can you tell Lamb 2 just threw his toppings on? He was done making his pizza a long time before Lamb 1 was done.

Lamb 1 took forever to make his pizza. He made "streets" of olives, then mushrooms, then onions, etc. on his pizza. I was so glad when he was finally done that I forgot to take more pictures of him like I did Lamb 2.

I remembered to take a picture of Lamb 1's pizza after it was baked but you can't tell very well where his streets are at. Lamb 1 doesn't like melted cheese so you can tell a little better on his half. He likes grated cheese so he puts that on his pizza after it is baked though.

Lamb 1

Lamb 3

Lamb 2

Thankfully when we make homemade pizza we make two pizzas and there are lots of leftovers. I can't imagine how many pizzas we will have to make when they are teenagers though!

Remembering summer

When the weather forecast predicts 0.8 inches of ice, 5.2 inches of snow, and wind gusts of 31mph winds and we expect the Lambs and Ram to be doing lots of this over the next few days...

We chose to remember our last summer vacation here...

The happy bakers


When we were in CA I couldn't see spending so much money for a few pieces of Ghirardelli chocolate. We went through the shop a few times so everyone could have one sample. Then I bought a package of chocolate chips. I figured we could all have several chocolate chip cookies vs. one piece of chocolate for less money. We were busy when we returned home and then last fall we were sick so often and then Christmas came...I finally remembered to bake them today.

Can you smell them?

Lamb 3 tasted them and approved. He cried because he was only allowed to eat one at a time.

Lamb 1 also tasted them and approved.

Lamb 2 tasted them and approved too.

I don't know how you could get here with the weather that we've been having, but you better hurry if you want to sample the cookies before they are all gone!

Sprinkles

I asked Ram's mom for some red, white, and blue sprinkles to bake cupcakes for the annual town picnic on the Fourth of July. She sent us those plus more every holiday. This is what we have-plus there may be more buried in the back of the cupboard. We used a lot on Christmas cookies and it hardly looks like any is gone yet. She is very generous! Today I had to find a new way to organize these as there was no room in my cupboard. Now we have to get to baking more cookies and cupcakes! We'll be ready as the Lambs birthdays are all coming up in the next few months. Thanks Ram's mom!